CPG Manufacturers Distributed 332 Billion Coupons in 2010

LIVONIA, MI—March 31, 2011—Valassis, one of the nation’s leading media and marketing services companies, released a comprehensive report on 2010 coupon usage that saw consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers offering consumers $485 billion in savings. This represents a 13.9 percent increase over the prior year and 47.4 precent growth compared to five years ago, according to the NCH Marketing Services 2010 Coupon Facts Report. NCH is a Valassis company.

“We have seen significant changes to shopping patterns, which have now been established as new habits and routines,” said Suzie Brown, Valassis Chief Marketing Officer. “Consumers’ continued interest in coupons and savings has been influenced by concerns over their own personal economic situations, and as a result, they are using more coupons, seeking savings wherever they can, combining print and digital offers and permanently becoming strategic shoppers.”

In 2010, marketers once again distributed more CPG coupons than the prior year, reaching 332 billion—the largest single-year distribution quantity ever recorded in the United States, exceeding the prior record set in 2009 by 6.8 percent or 21 billion coupons.

Nearly two-thirds of all coupons distributed in 2010 were for grocery products, up 8 percent from the prior year to 216 billion coupons. The remaining one-third of coupon offers in 2010 —116 billion coupons—were for health & beauty care (HBC) products up 4.5 percent from the prior year. According to the report, seven of the top 10 categories with the highest growth are non-food categories, which can be attributed to marketers’ desire to make these oftentimes discretionary purchases more desirable.